10% of French people have no attending physician. An alarming observation which will be the subject of discussions during the “health” section of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) which opens on Monday. Jérôme Marty, president of the French Union for Free Medicine (UFML), is taking part. He was a guest of “Apolline Matin” on RMC and RMC Story, this Monday.
“France has shot itself a masterful bullet in the foot by breaking what made its wealth: strong liberal medicine alongside a strong hospital”, according to Jérôme Marty, general practitioner, member of “Grandes Gueules” on RMC and president of the UFML, who was the guest of “Apolline Matin” on RMC and RMC Story, this Monday.
It is this Monday that the “health” section of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) opens in Le Mans. This major conference on the healthcare system, desired by Emmanuel Macron, brings together citizens, elected officials and health professionals, including Jérôme Marty.
On the program: the challenge of access to care and the fight against medical deserts. According to the rural mayors of France, there is a shortage of more than 6,000 general practitioners in the countryside. Rural territories are not the only ones concerned. “The first medical desert is Île-de-France,” says Jérôme Marty.
10% of French people do not have a general practitioner
“We have talked a lot about the hospital for years and we have completely forgotten city medicine and that is how slowly it has deteriorated. Today, we find ourselves with a moribund city medicine “, adds the professional.
In total, 10% of French people have no attending physician. And a Senate report, released in March, shows that this trend has been on the rise since 2020.
According to him, there are fewer and fewer general practitioners. “We lost 10,000 in 10 years and it will continue for another 10 or 15 years.”
“It will take a lot of money and a lot of willpower”
Whose fault is it? According to Jérôme Marty, this is due to “bad medical policies”. Therefore, “we end up with a sick hospital and moribund medicine so we have to get out of that, but for that, it will take a lot, a lot, a lot of money and a lot of willpower”, he insists.
Between 2017 and 2021, the number of general practitioners per department, relative to the population, decreased by 1% per year.
“The goal of the CNR is to listen and try to see the differences between the territories, there is not a single desert that looks like another. Then, you have to build with the healthcare professionals and their bodies intermediaries that are the trade unions”.
Increase consultation prices?
What could be the solutions? For Doctor Jérôme Marty, it is necessary “to review all the nomenclature and the height of the acts because there are prices which have not been re-evaluated for years”. It is therefore necessary, according to him, to increase the prices of consultations. “The European average is 50€, whereas here it is 25. Professionals must be given the means to provide quality medicine”.
Another possibility so that patients can have appointments more quickly, “cleansing our professions of acts that are useless, such as work stoppages of one or two days or even sports certificates, to free up time for these doctors. According to him, these professionals should be able to employ employees, such as assistants.
“Today, most doctors can’t even afford a secretary,” laments Dr. Jérôme Marty.
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